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A high-ranking American general
killed in an apparent insider attack Tuesday in Afghanistan was previously in
command at Natick Labs.

Brig. Gen. Harold J. Greene, the
highest-ranking American officer killed in combat since 1970, was killed by an
assailant dressed in an Afghan army uniform who fired into a group of
international soldiers at a base west of Kabul. The shooter was then killed.

Greene served as the U.S. Army
Research, Development and Engineering Command Deputy Commanding General and
Senior Commander of the Soldiers System Center in Natick from 2009 to 2011.

Greene was the deputy commanding
general, Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan. An engineer by
training, Greene was involved in preparing Afghan forces for the time when
U.S.-coalition troops leave at the end of this year.

Greene, who has family ties to
Franklin, is a native of upstate New York. He received his commission as an
engineer officer following his graduation from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
in 1980, according to the Army.